Spring-door.



w. H. 1011mm.

SPRING DOOR. APPLICATION FILED JULY 20, 1908.

Patented Oct. 12, 1909.,

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

FigJ- WIN H- r w I INVENTOR. Wllham H. Jordan.

WITNESSES.-

ATTORNEY.

W. H. JORDAN. SPRING 11003.; APPLICATION FILED JULY 20, 1908.

. Patented Oct. 12, 1909.

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mm m m M Hf r W WILLIAMH. JonnAiLor xnrdrrrsrown, INDIANA.

SPRING-D003.

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Specification of Letters Patent.

PatentedOct. 12, 19619.

Application filed my 20, 1908. Serial No. 444,398.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM H.JORDAN, of Knightstown, county of Henry,and State of Indiana, have invented a certain new and usefulSpring-Door; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full,clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to theaccompanying drawings, in which like numerals refer to like parts.

The. object of this invention is to provide a simple and effective meansfor mounting a door, which holds the door closed, half open, or entirelyopen, as desired.

The invention was made with special reference to doors for carriageswhere it is desirable that the door be held automatically in thepositions mentioned. It preventsthe' slamming of the door and holds itclosed. While a person is entering or leaving a carriage, it holds thedoor entirely open, and, while persons in the carriage are talking topersons outside, the door may be held half open. But it is not desiredthat. tl1Q'lI1VGIltion be limited to carriage doors, as, it may be usedelsewhere than; in carriages.

Another object of the invention is to so mount the door that, as itopens, a portion of the door will more and more project inwardly and thedoor will not project so far outwardly as if mounted in the ordinaryway. This renders it of peculiar value in carriages because with this,mounting the door when open will not project outwardly so far as to beinterfered with by the wheels or fenders and yet the portion of the doorwhich projects inwardly will in no manner interfere with personsentering or leaving the carriage. .7

One feature of the invention consists of pivotal connections from thecasing to the upper and lower parts of the door at points between theends of the door, so that if the door is opened a portion of the doorwill gradually project more and more inwardly and the remainder of thedoor not project outwardly as far as ordinary doors.

Another feature of the invention consists in providing a pair of pivotalconnections otal connections cooperating with each other to give thedesired movement of the 'door. Along with the foregoing is the provisionof a roller. connection between the door and a track on the casing:above, to form one of the pivotal connections, whereby it will not tionof a carriage top with the door closed,'''

a portion of the top of the device being broken away: Fig. 2 is ahorizontal section on the line 22 of Fig. 1 showing the positions of theparts on the door when closed and the released position of the spring inI dotted lines. Fig. 3 is a horizontal section on line 33 of Fig. 1showing the lower pivotal connections. Fig. 4 is the same as Fig. 2 withthe door partially open. Fig. 5 is the same with the door entirely open.

Fig. 6 is the same as Fig. 3 with the door I entirely open.

half-open. 1 Fig.1? isthe same with the door Fig. 8 is a verticalsection on' the line, 88 of Fig. 1. Fig. 9 is a detail of the clipfor-holding the lower pivots, part of the door being shown by dottedlines.

In-detail the drawings .show a carriage body 10 with a top 11 having adoor 12 mounted within a suitable-casing in the'carriage top. Thiscasing consists of an upper part 13, a'lower part 14:, a front side part15, to which the door is pivoted, and a rear partyl6 to which the dooris latched. The

lower pivotal sections appear in Figs. 3, 6

and, 7 and include an outside connecting bar-20 pivoted at one end to aplate 21 se- 1 cured to'the-side-15-of the casing.

Said bar 20 atits other end is pivoted to a clip 22 that is sec-uredtothe lower part of the door. The clip 22 is secured to the bottom of thedoor betweenits front and rear ends and,

therefore, somewhat removed from what maybe called the pivoted end ofthe door. The connecting bar- 20, when the door is closed, issubstantially parallel with the door. Its companion connecting bar 23 isfor the lower part of the doorand also a pair for the upper part of-thedoor, said plvon the inside of the door, being pivoted at one end to theclip 22 and at the other end to the plate 21. The inner connecting bar23 is not parallel with the door when closed 1 but is arranged as shownin Fig. 3 with one end pivoted to the part 15 of the casing ratherremote from the door and the other 1 end pivoted rather close to thedoor but nearer the pivotal edge of the door than the connection betweenthe bar and the clip 22, so that the two bars 20 and 23 aresubstantially of the same length with the ends thereof, which aresecured to the casing, being farther apart than the ends thereof whichare pivoted to the door, although the latter pivots are farther apartthan the width of the door. This arrangement enables said pivoted barsto assume the position shown in Figs. 6 and 7 when the door is openpartially or entirely. WVhen the door is being opened, the bar 20gradually changes from a parallel position with the door to one at rightangles when the door is substantially half open; and the furthermovement of the door to the open position again brings the bar 20 almostparallel with the door but with its free end extending toward thepivoted end of the door instead of away from the pivoted end of the dooras when the door is closed. The inner and inclined bar 23 is pivoted ata lower level than the door so that as the door opens the pivoted endthereof moves inwardly and over the bar 23 so that the angle between thebar 23 and the door diminishes from the position shown in Fig. 2- untilthe two parts are parallel then the further opening movement of the doorbrings the door over the bar 23 at a right angle or more as shown inFig. 7.

The door at its upper end has also two pivotal sections between the endsthereof and removed somewhat from what may be termed the pivotal end ofthe door. Thus there is a connecting bar 30 corresponding practicallywith the connecting bar 23 below and of the same length and similarlymounted although it is above the door instead of below it. One end ofthe bar 30 is pivoted to the bracket 31 on the door'casing inside thedoor. The other end of the bar 30 is pivoted by the pin 32 to the plate33 on the inner side of the top of the door, see Fig. 5. The otherpivotal connection at the top is very diiferent from the correspondingconnection at the bottom. It has a roller 35 mounted on an upwardlyprojecting arm 36 rotatably mounted in the bracket 37 which is securedto the inner surface of the top of the door, more remote from thepivotal end of the door than any of the connections here toforedescribed. The roller rides upon the rod or track 38 secured to the part13 of the door casing so as to lie inside thereof parallel with the doorwhen closed. This roller performs two or three functions. It is in thenature of a pivotal connection corresponding somewhat with the lowerpivotal bar 20. It supports the weight of the door so as to take theweight of the door off of the other pivotal connections. The rod 38serves as a guide to regulate the position of the door as it is openedand closed.

In addition to the pivotal connections;

which have been described a spring is pro vided to cooperate with themin moving the door to various positions and holding the same in thosepositions. To that end the flat spring 40 is fastened by the screws llnear the free edge of the door to the inside of the top thereof, so thatthe other or free end of the spring 40 will tend to stand outwardly fromthe door, as shown in Fig. 2 by dotted lines. But the free end of thespring is held inwardly toward the door in a permanent position by thearm 42 that projects inwardly from the part 13 of the casing, see Fig.2.

The door will operate without the spring etO, by reason of the pivotalconnections, and, if there is sufiicient friction, the door will stay inthe position to which it may be moved. Thus, if the door be half open,as shown in Fig. 4:, the lower pivotal connections will assume theposition shown in Fig. (5 and the top pivotal bar 30 will assumesubstantially the same position as the bar 23 below, while the roller 35will move on its track toward the part 15 of the casing. When the dooris entirely opened the lower parts will have the position shown in Fig.7, the upper pivotal bar 30 will be situated much as the bar 23 belowand the roller 35 will be moved substantially as near the part 15 of thecasing as the door will permit, as shown in Fig. 5. Therefore with thismounting there is no hinged or other means secured to the edge of thedoor but the pivotal connections are secured between the two ends of thedoor so that one end of the door projects inwardly more and more as thedoor opens. The position of these pivotal connections may be modifiedand the farther they are removed toward the middle of the door, the morethe door would project inwardly as it is opened. These peculiarities inthe movement of the door result from the double pivotal connections atthe top and bottom of the door which are situated between the ends ofthe door. But when the spring 40 is added it tends to hold the door inits open and closed positions and to spring them in those positions andthe neu tral position of the door is reached when the door is about halfopen so the door will remain in that position when desired. Thus it isseen that I have a door mounting free from coil springs and so arrangedthat the door will not project outwardly from the casing while beingopened as far as ordinary doors and it will stay in position, at leastthree positions to which it may be moved.

What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. The combination with a door casing and a door, of bars pivotallyconnected with the inside of the door near the top and bottom andbetween its ends and also with the side of the door casing remote fromthe door when the door is closed, a bar pivotally connected with theoutside of the door casing near the bottom and between the ends thereofand with the door casing, a roller mounted on the upper part of the doorbetween the ends of the door, and a track secured to the door casingabove the door on which said roller is mounted, substantially as setforth.

2. The combination with a door casing and a door, of pivotal connectionsbetween the casing and the door at points between the ends of the doorwhich draw the door toward the side of the casing and cause a part ofthe door to project inwardly more and more as the door is being opened,an arm extendinginwardly from the door casing, and a fiat spring pivotedto the inner end of said arm at one end and secured to the inner surfaceof the door near its free end, substantially as set forth.

3. A combination with a door casing and a door, of bars pivotallyconnected with the inside of the door near the top and bottom andbetween its ends and also with the side of the door casing remote fromthe door when the door is closed, a bar pivotally connected with theoutside of the door casing near the bottom and between the ends thereofand with the door casing, a roller mounted on the upper part of the doorbetween the ends of the door, a track secured to the door casing abovethe door on which said roller is mounted, an arm secured to the doorcasing above the door and projecting inwardly and curved away from theside of the casing, and a flat spring pivoted to the inner end of saidarm and its other end secured to the door near its free end.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto affiXed my signature in the presenceof the witnesses herein named.

'WM. H. JORDAN.

Witnesses:

CHARLIE E. CLARK, CHARLIE W. FITHIAN.

